Hi all

I was was wondering if anyone had read up anywhere on what has become of Solsteim. I was hoping that perhaps there was novel of some writing that mentions the island in recent years.

Obviously it is an island situated to the east of Skyrim just passed the mouth of the white river leading out from Windhelm and it has Morrowind to its south. It is home to the Nord clan known as the Skaal who live in the colder snowier north of the island and they don't take too kind to outsiders.

To my understanding like the city of Windhelm, Solsteim has also become home to a number of Argonian refugee families.
Seeing the East Empire Company presence at Windhelm harbour and them also being at Raven Rock and considering the location of the two I'm guessing the two locations probably maintain good shipping links.


I am wondering

1. Considering its geographical positioning to Windhelm as mentioned above, and considering the fact it also has an Imperial legion presence, Did or does Ulfric Stormcloak have any major influence there. If so I was wondering what the Skaal think of the war. They would be a tough ally to have on one's side.

2. Does it still have the Imperial fort there and if so did it play any role in the civil war. Does it have a Thalmor presence?

3. Now that the Argonians have invaded Morrowind and many Dunmer fled to the island, is it massively over taken with Dunmer?
If so how much of an influence have they had on the island? Is it becoming more like a little Morrowind than a Nord island / Imperial outpost. Has the secret criminal organisation / assassins guild of the Dunmer, the Morag Tong moved in?

1. Raven Rock no longer exists. Money ran out and the colony was abandoned. Some NPC's cite this in Oblivion.

2. Solstheim is not home to Argonian refugees, but rather Dunmer Refugees. Not much is known except that Solstheim is majority Dunmer now, but the settlement(s) is/are not known, who the leader is, what the fates of the Temple and the Great Houses are, etc.

It bugs me that this was never expanded upon, since I'm curious as hell about the fate of the organizations/institutions from Morrowind.

oops I meant to write Dunmer, lol



yh. I am in serious wonder. It seems strange how an island like Solsteim wouldn't feature in a game concerning Skyrim. Especially as it is a Nord home that has an Imperial fort on it. I'm guessing it is because it is mostly Dunmer now. I'm sure the Skaal must still have some Nordic connections though.

IIRC the Skaal are not considered part of mainstream Nord culture. Also, Solstheim is geographically somewhere between Morrowind and Skyrim, perhaps closer to Morrowind. http://www.imperial-library.info/content/great-collapse is ambigous about whether the Skaal welcomed the Dunmer, as is Lord of Souls:

Attrebus has memorised parts of the address granting Solstheim to the Dunmer. It goes as such: “Untithed to any thane or hold, and self-governed, with free worship, with no compensation to Skyrim or the Empire except as writ in the armistice of old wheresoever those might still apply, and henceforth let no man or mer say that the Sons and Daughters of Kyne are without mercy or honor.” Attrebus is deeply moved by it, though Sul sees it as a solely political statement: “It’s not the most fruitful land, and in my day [late 3rd/early 4th era] almost unpopulated, and then by scraggly tribesmen with no clear allegiance toward Skyrim or the Empire. Morrowind had always laid theoretical claim to the place. If Skyrim hadn’t given it freely, odds are the refugees would have settled here anyway, forcing the Nords to either fight or lose face. This way they came out looking like saviors.

Given that the Skaal are hunter-gatherers, not farmers, and their religion and way of life would be seriously disrupted by large numbers of immigrants (the East Empire company caused enough trouble), things might have turned very sour. Hopefully they manage to work things out and make lots of cute Skaalmer babies.

I can't remember if it was Torygg who granted Solstheim to the Dunmer or if it was earlier (edit: okay, it was earlier), but they officially own it and it is no longer a part of the kingdom of Skyrim. Must've cheesed off the Skaal when that happened. They'd be too proud and too not-quite-Nordic to leave.

As per your specific questions:
1. See above, Ulfric wouldn't want to ally with a bunch of Elven milk-drinkers. Skyrim independence is a Skyrim problem. If the Elves got involved, then they'd corrupt it towards their elven purposes and bleagh.
2. The fort probably still exists. If it is still manned (by the Legion) depends on the Empire's relationship with Morrowind. We don't know if the Armistice is still in effect, thus keeping Morrowind in the Empire. We don't even know if the Empire still wants Morrowind in it. (edit: they probably don't)
3. No idea. Best guess: they've got some kind of government working. If it is a part of the Empire, then it'd probably be a separate province with a new Duke. House structure would be unlikely given that most of the Great Houses are effectively dead (Telvanni and Indoril confirmed, Redoran likely crippled beyond hope). The Morag Tong could have a presence on the island, but without a House system, they probably have had to reinvent themselves.

Thanks for you replies all. Its giving me a clearer picture


it's still not that far from Skyrim. It is just east of winter hold and it Raven Rock would be nearer to Windhelm by boat than Dawnstar is.

http://fessicsfavorites.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/empire-of-tamriel.jpg

considering most Dunmer main cities are / were on the south or east coast of Vvardenfell or on the main land going south towards Black Marsh




ok. That makes sense.




oh, so it isn't even owned by Skyrim.





I guess it also depends on trade and availability of material as to what structures and buildings they have there. Perhaps they still do have some trade with the east empire company and the cities on coast of Skyrim.

I'm not even sure what situation Morrowind is in now or whether it is built back up & is safe to live now.

Southern Morrowind (our guess is somewhere south of Mournhold) is habitable, though in what state it is in after the Argonians swept through there and then Umbriel, it's hard to say.

i see there are two main cities below Mournhold - Narsis & Fear. What has happened to the rest of Morrowind? Is it because of the volcano erupting?

Yep, that's what you get for basing most of your civilization around a volcano about the size of Elsewyr.

Completely unknown... Vvardenfell was likely mostly ruined by the erruption. Though how big the damage is, is anybody's guess. I'd personally imagine the more northern cities and most of the Telvanni strongholds to have survived the blast. I doubt the mainland was effected seeing as the effects aren't noticable at all in Skyrim and you don't hear about any other province either, so it seems unlikely that the erruption damaged more. But then the Argonians invaded. How far they came, what they conquered and what they killed is also unknown there are no books on the subject and what you hear from npc's often conflicts with what other npc's say...

The Company must really regret that investment, seeing how Solstheim is even missing from their http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111120114305/elderscrolls/images/6/66/EETC_Trading_Map.jpg.

or its an very old map. I read somewhere (I think UESP) that the island wasn't featured on earlier maps of Tamriel.

Maybe its a Nord drawn map and the map maker left it off as a sign of disapproval to it being officially declared Dunmer

EDIT: Me wrong.

It's actually Narsis and Tear, the Slave City and Capital of House Dres. As for what happened to the rest of Morrowind, no one is sure but the official lore and game dialogue/missions would suggest that Houses Indoril and Redoran may as well be gone, Telvanni is likely gone, and House Dres (Formerly the biggest slaving House) is also likely crippled or outright destroyed. The crashing of the Ministry of Truth into Vivec City caused the eruption of Red Mountain, effectively destroying everything on Vvardenfell. Outside of this, not much is known except for the fact that Argonians invaded at the urging of the Hist, made it as far north as Vivec City/Red Mountain in terms of latitude, annexed the contested territory in the south, and then occupied Morrowind, making no effort to rebuild or colonize; they just occupied it. It's pretty clearly stated that everything/everyone on Vvardenfell who wasn't warned by Azura is gone and the island is covered in lava, ash, storms, etc. and where the Ministry of Truth impacted is now called "Scathing Bay" or "The Bay of Scathing". Goodbye Ascadian Isles.

Hi, I find this an interesting topic especially since I am quite fond of Morrowind and what happened to it after the Nerevarine storyline. One thing I was wondering is what are some of the things the NPC's in Skyrim say about Morrowind? I recall someone (or an author?) saying that they brought it (the Argonian invasion) upon themselves? I can't recall much tbh. I do remember reading http://www.imperial-library.info/content/dunmer-skyrim book though, which at least gives a bitter/cynical insight into a refugee's state of mind and that there is a descendant of the Great Houses left. Isn't there a Telvanni descendant somewhere in Skyrim as well?

There's http://imperial-library.info/content/faded-diary describing what happened to the rest of Morrowind. It fits with the Infernal City, where someone remarks that the land had turned into ash instead of forest, meaning that they were well into Morrowind.

Morrowind is like eastern Europe; that place just can't catch a break.

I don't really understand this sentiment, and I've seen it pop up every now and then, that Morrowind would be some sort of underdog. From the ascension of the Tribunal until the return of Dagoth Ur, they had 3000 years of unrivaled stability (with a few exceptions, like the four score war). Few countries come close to that. Sure, the blight, the red year and the argonian invasion are bummers, but overall Morrowind has been really lucky throughout history.

It probably has something to do with the fact Morrowind captured the imaginations of a lot of TES fans and brought them into the series and that it feels like the Devs destroyed it for no particular reason. I love skyrim but it feels like the most interesting part of Tamriel died when Morrowind was gutted. Stuff like the Telvanni being 'wiped out', which I find hard to believe given they're the great house least dependent on any formal structure, most of their settlements are hidden and largely self-sustainable let alone the sheer power of Telvanni mage-lords, the abolition of slavery by Helseth in Oblivion, Vvardenfell reduced to nothingness... the world is blander more generic place for it.

That and the precedent it set they made the filthy lizards too powerful, why the hell would Dagon care if they could slaughter hundreds of dremora for every scaley that goes down? Dremora don't run out, mortals do. All the argonian and beast-race fans are pissed at dunmer culture, so what happens? The lizards get to curb stomp the place. Next thing you know Alinor will pull an Atlantis and sink beneath the ocean beause so many people don't like the Thalmor

Dagon might be fine with sending waves and waves into a meatgrinder, but the dremora aren't brainless slaves. Their perfectly capable of being routed, and once the gates themselves are entered, it's no longer "send the dremora into the enemy lands" but "keep the enemy from getting closer to the sigil keep."

Indeed, which is why instead of defending the sigil keeps and just letting the argonians bleed themselves dry against their walls he decided to just pack them up and go home because they were too tough? Some Lord of Destruction he is. As for dremora being routed, sure you're right. However I'm pretty sure Dagon could find some less sentient daedra to throw are the lizards who don't rout and have trouble noticing when they start getting chewed up.

I wonder if a more important aspect of the Argonian's success in the Oblivion Crisis was just that Black Marsh simply didn't matter.

It was invaded, just very unsuccessfully. Everywhere else had trouble, with Cyrodiil spared most damage, due to the CoC. The argonians have the Hist, who mutated them for war, and whipped them into an incredibly able fighting force.

On the hist, the Argonians break away from the empire then invade Morrowind whilst the empire is getting "invaded" by the Thalmor. Convenient or just two unrelated events?

Argonian invasion happened shortly after the red year in 4E6, the great war started somewhere around 4E175 I believe...